His story becoming my story

We finally managed to finish discussing the introduction to Chapter 2! Hurrah. Some of our insights and thoughts were:

If we don’t believe that Jesus was fully human (i.e. that he didn’t get a ‘head start’ or extra powers from God) it robs us of so much. The fact is that Jesus WAS fully human and he STILL managed to live a spotless life in terms of his relationship with God. Wow… what a thing to aspire to…

Jesus has the power to transform us. Whilst the Church is obsessed with Paul who had a dramatic conversion, the other disciples also experienced amazing journeys with their faith. John was famous for his bad temper and look at what he did in the name of Jesus! Discipleship is about following, about living with someone and learning from them. It’s not necessarily about instant change.

The imagery of the 180 degree U turn that Philip uses in the book we found really helpful, especially if you look at it as a semicircle – a journey we travel on which will lead us towards God. It’s about moving towards Jesus – sometimes, it’s only when we look back that we realise how far we’ve come. And it doesn’t often happen overnight!

By the way, Naomi’s getting baptised on 2 March – woo hoo!! The girl’s going public… !